The Meaning Of Irony
by Noise from Nowhere
Summary: On the day of the reapings when Prim's name is called, Katniss fails to volunteer to save her sister. Now, Prim faces possiable death in the Hunger Games.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Reaping day was here. Standing in line, I glanced over at Katniss, more worried about her than I was about me. She had twenty little slips with her name on them, I only had one. Among hundreds of names, my one little slip wouldn't be pulled, but Katniss might. Or Gale. I really don't want them to be pulled; I don't want to watch them die. Looking back at the stage, I watched the lady who was announcing the names. What a horrible job, knowing only one of the people would live. As she reached into the ball, I felt a sweat breaking out on my forehead. _Please don't be Katniss, please…_

"Prim Everdeen," She called out. At first I felt relief, I didn't hear Katniss's name. Then, I realized with a jolt that I had heard _my_ name being called. That _I_ was going to die. I started to clench and unclench my fists. Sweat broke out on my forehead. I needed Mamma. I needed her to tell me this was a joke. I couldn't be the one. I had one slip in there. One in thousands. I looked back at Katniss, half wanting her to step forward and take my place. But she didn't. She just stood there, paralyzed.

"Um, Prim Everdeen?" the lady asked again, looking around. Someone behind me gave me a push. If I didn't go forward, ten people would die. If I still didn't come forward, twenty would die. Killing would just go on until they thought they got me. Involuntarily, I started to move toward the stage.

"Well! Meet Prim!" A mutter of disapproval went up; no one liked having to hear this lady's cheery voice when a twelve-year old was being sent to her death.

"Anyone want to go in place for this little fella'?" She ruffled my hair and looked around to see that no one raised their hands. No one ever would. No one wants to die.

"Okay then! Now for the boy's pick!" Reaching in, she pulled out a name.

"Peeta Mellark" A big, tough-looking boy walked on to the stage. I didn't really know him, but he still scared me. I have seen him in the bakery, once lifting a two hundred pound cake, the big wedding cake that no one could afford. I only weighed seventy pounds. I would have to go against that muscle? I was going to die, for sure. A shiver climbed my spine, as I realized what those words meant. _I was going to die._

That night at home, while Mamma wept, and Katniss stared dully out the window, I hugged a silent bear, and stared into the fire. We all thought the same thing, I was going to die. There was no glimmer of hope, nothing to hold on to. I was a terrible fighter, and I couldn't hurt a fly. I don't think I could if I wanted to. How could I live, with the knowledge that I had killed someone's son or daughter? But I didn't want to die. I really, really, wanted to run away. To hide somewhere. I didn't know where, but I would find a place. But I couldn't do that; they would come and kill Katniss and Mamma. I had no choice. I was going to compete in the Games.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

I woke up the next morning* after everyone, and Mamma suggested that I go outside to take a walk. It would clear my head, at least. Walking past my cat, Buttercup, I bent down and rubbed her head, calling to Katniss to pour her some milk. That's when I remembered my goat, Lady. I needed to milk her before I went out. I ran out past the field to Hank and got out the milk bucket, putting it under Lady.

I reached out to start to milk her, but I noticed something wrong. She wasn't bleating like usual. In fact, she wasn't moving. I realized what was wrong. She was dead. Dead. No, no no no no… she couldn't be dead. I grabbed her back and shook like crazy. No, no no no no no. Oh, please no. Bleat! Bleat, Lady! BLEAT! She bleated. She bleated! She's alive! I nearly melted with relief. She wasn't dead. I cried then, realizing how empty I would be without her. I hugged her, and decided to take her to town with me to get checked, just in case.

I cried silently all the way to town. When we got there I went straight to the nearest 'vet'. This meant the most experienced doctor, which was Dr. Howl. I went to his house and knocked on the door. He answered his door, and looked at me for a second, then, realizing who I was; he beckoned me into his house and asked if I wanted something.

"No, thank you." I said, and then pointed at my goat. "Can you please examine her, though? I think she's sick." He looked at her and went to his desk, rifled through it, and brought out a stethoscope. Walking back over, he put it on her heart and listened for about a minute. Standing up, he put the tool away and turned to me.

"She's fine, hon. All it is is a little stomach bug. She'll be down for a coupla' days, but she'll be fine. Nothing life threatening." He smiled as my shoulders sagged and a smile grew across my face. Then I realized that I had no money.

"Umm… could you hold on to Lady for me for a little bit? I need to run home and get some money." I said, already on my way to the door.

He cleared his throat. "Uh, that's okay. You don't need to. Consider it as a personal think you." He didn't say so, but I knew he was thinking about his own daughter, Maryann, who could have been on the Games. She was as old as me, but she was, well, crippled. She had a bad leg, and with no doubt would have died in the first hour of the Games. He was thankful because I was going and not his daughter.

I nodded, smiled the best I could, and left. I didn't want to see anyone anymore. I started to make my way home. Turning a corner, I saw the bakery, and Peeta was inside, making a cake. I hurried around the corner, not wanting to see him. He could be the one who killed me. He could kill me. I didn't want to see him. Walking through the front door, I saw Katniss in the kitchen hugging Gale. I think Katniss liked Gale, even though she said she didn't. I bet they kissed.

When I got closer I saw that Katniss was crying. I have never seen Katniss cry. Ever. She looked up at the sound of the door slamming into the frame, stood up straight, wiped her eyes, and said, "I need to get some food." and left. Gale looked at me.

An awkward silence passed before Gale said, "She's upset because she didn't go in place for you." Then he left.

Oh, no. No, Katniss couldn't be upset over that. I wouldn't have volunteered. She didn't have to. If she volunteered, then she would die. I couldn't live with myself then, if she did die. I would hate myself forever, probably ending up committing suicide. No, it would be better if I died. Katniss was hunting, feeding our family and sometimes others. If she had volunteered, they might have starved. Mamma and I would have starved. It was better this way, I wouldn't be missed. Sure, Mamma would cry and take off for a week. But life would go on. It had to, or death would be everywhere. Walking into the room Katniss and I shared, I slumped on the bed, and thought. I remembered the first time I had seen Peeta. The memory came suddenly, and I didn't even know it had happened until just now.

_I was walking home from school, and Katniss was out hunting. I was worried, this was the first time she had been alone. Without Papa. Thinking of him __had __brought tears to my eyes. He had died only last week. I __had__ thought about him all the way home, and when I walked into the door__,__ I saw a boy in the kitchen with two cake boxes piled in his arms. He was talking to Mamma, telling her to please take them. Mamma was refusing, saying that she wasn't going to take advantage that her husband had died._

_"Please, Peeta, don't."_

_That was the first time I had heard his name. He walked out then, turned, asked if Mamma was sure, waited for the reply, but Mamma had walked away. Quickly, he left the boxes on the front porch step, and ran._

How could I fight that? The boy who had given me cake, and for the first time, might I add? No, even if he was killing me, I couldn't fight back. To kill, at least. Wow. Comforting thought.

I awoke with a jolt to the sound of a knock at the door. I had fallen asleep, I guess. I stumbled out to answer it, but Katniss had beaten me to it.

"We're looking for Primrose Everdeen. Please get her." Only one type of person could be so quick to get to the point, only one type of person could have the authority to come to a house and demand to see a Gamer. The Capitol was here.

*I know that the tributes usually go to the Capitol immediately after they are drawn, so sorry she isn't. There is an explaination in Chapter Four. Thanks!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

"Please get her immediately." There were two of them, both girls, one short and brunette, the other tall and blond. Katniss's face paled, but she stood strong.

"She's not here." She said curtly, then walked away, shutting the door in the Capitol's face. No. No, she couldn't have! She lied to the Capitol, and shut them out of the house!

"Katniss! Why'd you do that? They'll kill us!" I said once I caught up to her. She was in the kitchen, holding on to the counter.

"No, they'll kill me. Not you. Not Mom. Only me." I was shocked. Katniss wanted to die. A sudden realization came over me. I remembered Katniss crying. Gale saying why. Because she didn't go in place for me.

"Katniss, listen. I saw you crying the other day. I know why. Don't kill yourself over it. I'm not joking." I said, glancing nervously over at the door. "I know you wish you spoken up. I know you want to go back. But you can't. What'll happen to Mamma if you die? To Gale? To everyone? Do NOT put yourself into this. It's not your fault." She turned around and looked at me.

"Prim. I'm. Not. Going. To. Let. You. Die." She said with force. "This is all my fault! We both know you're going to die! We both know that you can't kill someone! You don't have the heart! You cry if I try to kill a fly! I had a better chance. I wouldn't have won, but I don't care. You're more important to the District than me. You heal. I hunt. Your cheer people up. I cause frowns. You matter. I don't. I'm going to see if I can go in place for you." She looked fierce. I was shocked. Then the door burst in.

"THIS IS THE CAPITOL! OBAY US OR DIE! NOW! GET DOWN AND LIE ON YOUR STOMACHS, WITH YOUR HANDS ON TOP OF YOUR HEADS!" The Capitol was back, and they had at least ten more people with them. They also had a bellower. As they were broke down the door, Mamma ran out, obviously woken from her nap because of the noise.

"What's going on? What are you doing here?" she asked, frantically looking around. A calmer Capitol agent walked up to her.

"Ma'am, your oldest daughter has acted rude and disrespectfully. She told lies, slammed the door on us, and the Head Peacemaker told us she hunted illegally." Mamma stiffened. "I'm afraid she has to… well… do you know the Booklet of the Capitol?" Mamma nodded. Everyone was required to have one in their homes.

"Do you know chapter eighty-two, section twelve, main topic C, paragraph five, subtopic B?" Mamma shook her head no. The Capitol agent looked uncomfortable. She was a rare one, one who had a heart, I thought. Then I wondered what she was talking about. Then the bellower shoved past the lady.

"This is the summary." He said, and with that, he took out his gun and shot Katniss in the heart.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Katniss fell, silently. Then she hit the floor, and there was a soft bump. Blood pooled out around her, and I heard someone screaming. Snapping to, I realized it was Mamma. She was on her knees, in Katniss's blood, screaming, pleading at no one; just trying to bring Katniss back. Katniss's eyes were wide open, staring at nothing. The Capitol agent who had shot her was smiling slightly, as though laughing at an inside joke. The other agent, the girl, looked sick. Mamma was still on the ground, screaming now at Katniss's killer, asking him why he had to shoot her daughter. I dropped down to my knees, wrapping my arms around Katniss, who was covered in sticky, wet blood. I was getting it all over my clothes, the only nice ones I had that weren't reaping clothes. Mamma had wanted me to wear them so that I would leave looking dignified. I didn't care anymore, and neither did Mamma. Suddenly, I was yanked to my feet from behind.

"Let's go, little one." A voice growled in my ear, and I realized it was the man who had killed Katniss.

"What? No!" I shouted. I wasn't going to go. Not now, not ever. I had just seen death, and I never wanted to see it again. Not on me, or any of the other twenty-three Hunger Games contestants.

"No!" I shouted again, as he started to pull me toward the door. "Stop!"

"Listen here, missy." He hissed, grabbing my hair and pulling back. "We were as nice as possible to you. We, who never take it as easy on anyone, decided to let you go home for a day. All the other contestants are already at the capitol. But because your _sister_," he practically spit the word out, "hunted and gave some of the spoils the Head Peacemaker of the district. And he begged to let you stay home one more day. 'She's just a little girl, and her sister is so helpful! Let her stay home an extra day, how bad could it be?' he said. You got to stay home an extra day. That's all you get." As he said this, I realized he was right. Usually you go right to City Hall after the reapings. I didn't. All because of Katniss. Because she hunted, she gave me an extra day with Mamma. An extra day with her. An extra day being home. And I could never thank her, because this man killed her.

He continued to drag me to the car, and then I realized that I didn't have my token.

"What about my token?" I asked, struggling to stay up. He grunted.

"One minute." He growled. I ran in, and then stopped in my tracks when I saw Katniss's body again, with Mamma still crying by her, holding onto Katniss as the capitol agents tried to pull her away. "No!" she was screaming. "NO!"

"FIFTEEN SECONDS!" shouted the man outside. I snapped out of it and went to Katniss's room. There was a jar in there, and I grabbed it, along with some of Buttercup's stray fur on the nail hanging out of her wall. I swiped one of Katniss's ribbons, the one that she wore, or said she wore, when I was littler. It was the only one she owned. Stuffing those into the jar, which was about the size of the palm of my hand, I ran into Mamma's room and tore a little bit of cloth off her dress, the one that she cleaned in. It had so many holes already, she wouldn't notice. I was about to turn around when I felt a hand on my shoulder, then was yanked back.

"Time's up." Katniss's killer said. I shoved the jar into my pocket, then followed him outside, not looking at Katniss.

"I love you," I said to Mamma, but she was trapped in a wail of pain, a wail that said she had lost the two of the people she had loved most, and she was about to lose the third, and last.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

The drive to the capitol was torture. All twelve hours were driven in silence, so it gave me plenty of time to think about dying. It gave me time to replay Katniss's death, over and over. And it gave me time to realize that, before I left, I didn't seem sad about Katniss dying. In fact, if Mamma hadn't been screaming, she might say that I wasn't sad at all. But that's not the case. I was sad, but that sadness was overshadowed by fear, shock, and helplessness. But, as I think about it more and more, a wave of realization hits me. I realize that Katniss is gone. Gone. I'll never see her again, ever. She's vanished off the face of the Earth. It's hard to think about, never seeing her again. Even though I've never been really religious, I guess you could say that my family was Christian. And, according to the Ten Commandments (or Bible), if I murder someone, I'll go to, you know, South. But, if I want to live, I have to kill someone. So, either way, I'm going to South, whereas, I'm a thousand percent sure about this; Katniss will be up in Heaven. Now I know I'll never see her again. And, if I remember correctly, the last thing Katniss said to me was basically saying that she'd die for me.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

The next few days were a blur. When I had first arrived, everyone was gone, so no one applauded me as I got out of the car. I went straight to the hotel, where I met Cinna, my designer. He was a quiet, gentle man, but his team was non-stop talk. They asked me questions about my home, about my family, my life, my district, _everything_. I didn't really answer their questions, so they stopped talking to me and started gossiping to one another. I spent most of my time locked in the room, not even touching the food (even though it looked delicious) that they gave me. All I could think about was how Katniss was dead. Gone from the world, forever. That was the hard part: the forever. Forever was a black hole, one that no one could get out of. Forever was a tower, that loomed over us, and as hard as we tried to not think about it, as soon as death struck it came back, and all your time was spent thinking about that black nothingness; which is exactly what I did. Then I met Haymitch. He, when he was not drunk (which was not often), probed and poked at me until I finally agreed to go to training. That's when the blur cleared up, and I met my downfall.

The next day, I went into the training room and saw all the other gamers. I had never seen them before, because I hadn't paid any attention to the other ceremonies. You kind of zone out like that, you know, after you've witnessed a _murder_ and all. So this was my first time seeing the people who would be killing me. I tried not to take much notice. I wasn't here to judge. Besides, I didn't want to start to like someone and then have them killed in front of me. Or have them stab me in the back in the middle of an alliance. Literally.

I looked around a little bit; apparently Atala had already listed all of the training centers, so I looked around. I saw a bow and arrow center, and, thinking that Katniss would go here, I went there. Picking up the smallest bow, I spotted the quiver of arrows next to a small girl, most likely my age, but she looks like she's ten. She had big, dark brown eyes and dark skin, and her hair is an even darker brown. She glances up at me; her eyes wide and fearful, then glances down quickly, and concentrates on putting the arrow into the bow. I walked over to another center, not wanting to have to see this girl train to kill. The center I go to is the knife station. I've seen Katniss throw a knife, so maybe I should try. When the girl leaves I can go back to the bow and arrow center.

I glance over, but I don't see her. Where'd she go? I looked around the room, and saw her standing a few yards away from me, staring. When she saw me staring at her, she walked away and pretended to focus on spear throwing. But the smallest spear was still too big for her. I turned away, and was about to throw the knife when something happened. It was just a flash, but for a second I thought I saw… no, never mind. Preparing to throw again, I focused in on the target, wound up and threw the knife. But the moment it left my hand, I saw that flash on the target, but this time it stayed, it didn't disappear. And I was certain what the flash was.

"Katniss!" I screamed. "DUCK!" But it was too late. Katniss just stood there, smiling; a rare thing for her, and then the knife impaled her. Not in the heart, but in the shoulder. She fell.

"Katniss!" I screamed again. "Katniss! No! Katniss!" I hopped over the wooden fence that squared out the targets and ran over to the fallen Katniss. Putting my hands on her, trying to stop the bleeding, trying to pull the knife out…

And then she was gone. Vanished. My hands were clutching carpet, the knife was about ten feet away.

"Katniss!" I cried, looking up widely. Everyone was staring at me, some with their mouths agape. All except one. A big guy, over at the sword station. He was about to impale a dummy, and right as he impaled it…

The dummy was Katniss! He impaled Katniss!

"NO!" I screamed, not letting her die for a third time. I launched myself at the gate, and then ran at the boy who had impaled Katniss.

"NO!" Flying through the air, I slammed into him, but I was only seventy-three pounds. He merely took a step back, looking at me like I was insane. I slammed into him again, this time to no effect. I looked over at Katniss, blood flowing from her body…

Then she was gone. I looked blankly at the floor, where Katniss had been. There was only a dummy, stuffing coming out of its wound. I turned around, looking for answers, but only saw six capitol agents rushing at me, guns pointed.

"Stop where you are!" one of them shouted. Then he fired at me. I felt a sharp pain in my arm, and looked down to see something sticking out. It almost looked like a tranquiller dart….

Then everything went black.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

I woke up to a pounding head. Opening my eyes, I lifted my head, but found that that was all that I could do. The rest of my body was strapped down on a white table. Needles went into my arms, and there was an oxygen tube in my nose. Turning my head, I saw monitors and people. One of the people looked up.

"She's awake." One of them said, another nodded and went over to an IV.

"You won't feel a thing." She said, pouring a liquid into the bag. No! I didn't want to go back to sleep! But it was out of my control, no matter how hard I struggled. Everything faded again.

This time when I woke up, I kept my eyes closed. As people walked by, I heard snatches of conversation that had drifted by.

"I need some coffee-"

"Did you hear-"

"I went to bed and-"  
"-know! It's really-"

"-and he said-"

"-clinically insane-"

"-her sister was shot-"

"-compete in the Games?"

I froze. The last ones… clinically insane…her sister was shot…compete in the Games... They were talking about me! I was clinically insane? No, I wasn't. I was just seeing things…just seeing Katniss. And she was dead, so wouldn't I be seeing her for a little while? I heard footsteps stop right next to me.

"I've talked to President Snow." President Snow?

"And?"

"I asked if we should take…" a pause "…Primrose Everdeen out of the Games."

"And?"

"He said no. He said it would make him look weak. Make the Capitol look weak."

"So, what are we going to do?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"You heard me."

"But… but, it's like putting a rat into a room full of cats! She'll never survive!"

"We don't know for sure if she's insane. But even if she was sane, she wouldn't survive. She's District 12, remember?"

"Oh. But-"

"No buts. Even if we could take her out of the Games, President Snow would kill us."

"Hmm."

The footsteps started again, and faded away. I opened my eyes and looked around again. The IV was gone, but I didn't care about that. I strained against the straps that were holding me down, but it was no use. My hands were under me, I could only wait to be set free. I tried again. And again. And again. I was so busy trying to get free that I didn't realize that someone was behind me until he walked around to face me. Haymitch.

"What were you thinking?" he was somber.

"Huh?" I asked.

"What. Were. You. Thinking?" he said again, pronouncing each word slowly.

"When?"

"When you were throwing a fit in the Training Center!" he exploded. "How could you be so stupid? Do you realize now that you have missed your interview with Cesser? Do you realize that you've knocked down your sponsor numbers from ten to one? Do you realize that you have been knocked out for three days? That the Games start tomorrow, and you haven't done a thing!" he shouted, enraged. One day? One day until the Hunger Games?

"What time is it?" I asked, interrupting his ramblings.

"Nine-thirty."

"What?" Nine? No! that gave me less than…

"What time do the games start?" I asked.

"You go into the platforms at 5:58. They're lowered at 5:59. Then the minute waiting, and they officially start at 6:00." I had less than nine hours! Only eight hours and fifty-eight minutes, if you want to get technical.

"Can I get out of here?"

"I need the key. They're coming. Then we go to the Training Center, and train till midnight. Then you sleep, get up at five, get ready, and play the Games."

"Will we be alone in the Center?"

"Yeah. Here they are."

After I was unlocked, Haymitch and I went to the Training center. Once there, I turned to him.

"What should I do?" Tears flooded my eyes. I was going to die tomorrow. Sure, I would be with Katniss, but I didn't want to die. I had spent so much time mourning, I hadn't practiced at all. I had barley eaten, I was weak, and, worst of all, I had lost my token. I don't know where it went or anything. I had nothing to remind me of home. Haymitch's face softened.

"What are you good at?" he asked, scanning the room. I shrugged, afraid that if I spoke I would burst out into tears. He sighed, exasperated.

"Let's start with the bow and arrow. It's the easiest to carry, the lightest, and you can kill from a distance. But first, listen. When you get to the Games, do not grab anything. Find a source of water. Sleep in high places, all these bulky people won't be able to reach you. And do not start a fire. Got it? No grabbing, fires, heavy objects. Find water, and high places. Trees are the best. Rocks will do, but squeeze into crevasses. If you're in the desert, dig a hole, cover your mouth, bury yourself, and sleep. If you're in snow, do the same thing. Though, I doubt there will be snow."

We reached the bow and arrow station. I picked up the bow, and searched for the arrows. When I found one, I got ready to fire. Closing one eye, I focused in on the target. Then everything went downhill.

"Okay, now you're too tight. Relax a little." Haymitch said. I relaxed, keeping my aim, and started to let go of the arrow go. Then the target morphed again. But it was too late. The arrow was loose, and, once again, heading for Katniss.

"No!" I screamed, realizing that it was happening all over again. "No!" Haymitch looked startled, took a step back. I jumped over the rail, heading for Katniss. The arrow had pierced her stomach. She looked up at me, mouthing the word 'Why?' over and over again. Then she died. Again. I collapsed, sobbing. When would I stop seeing Katniss die? When? Haymitch came over, warily.

"What's going on?" he asked, clearly freaked. I looked up at him through tears.

"It was Katniss. She…she died. Again." I said. He looked at me.

"What?"

"It's Katniss." I said again, "She keeps dying."

"Oh." He looked at me funny. "You mean whenever you shoot at something?"

"Yes."

I thought about it. No wonder everyone thought I was insane. I was insane.

"What should we do?" he asked himself. "We need to train… but she'll go insane…I need a drink…." He muttered. "Okay, listen up. Here's what we'll do. When you get into the arena, just hide. After only you and two or three contestants are left, they'll lure you together. Then you wait until only one is left, and then attack. Okay?" he paused. "Let's go to the camouflage center, then the edible plants center."

We spent the rest of the night (until midnight) training. We spent more time at the camouflage center, because I already knew a lot of edible plants. At midnight I went to bed, and slept until five. Then, I got dressed for the games, in a dark green jumpsuit.

"Remember what I told you." Haymitch said, as a goodbye and slipped out the door. Cinna came in then, and took me over to the glass tube. Right before I went in, he told me something that made my blood run cold.

"I didn't get to know you. You wouldn't let me. But I still think you're a good kid. So, listen up. The mines are a good way to die. I don't usually say this, but for you, if you don't want to die of another's hands, commit suicide. You look like the type to do that." He said. I was shocked, Cinna? Talking like this? From the one time I had seen him, he had looked decent. But, now that I looked into his eyes, I saw evil. Pure evil. Cold, pure evil. Freezing, cold, pure evil. Nothingness, freezing, cold, pure evil. Evil Evil. Evil. Ahhhh! Too much evil! I got lost in it. Then he reached out and shoved me backwards onto the tube. The Games were starting.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

The tube rose upward, and deposited me and the other twenty-three tributes onto the platforms. The cornucopia, golden paint gleaming in the sunlight, was dropping weapons, food, water, rope, anything that could be used to fight. I looked around, and saw forest. Perfect! It was the ideal place for hiding. I looked down at the spoils on the ground, and spotted something I could use. A sleeping bag. It was a light green, and right in the path of my way to the woods. The buzzer went off, and I ran. I scooped up the bag, and was almost to the forest when something hit me from behind. Hard. I flew forward, and felt something heavy on top of me. A person. I struggled, but whoever was on top of me was big. Really big. I turned my neck and saw that it was a boy… I struggled to remember his name… what was it? It was the boy from district 2… Cato! That was his name. And he was brutal. Brutal and very capable of killing me. The long, sharp knife in his hand gave me a hint. He chuckled, and said,

"First kill." He took the knife, bringing it down. Hard. I twisted away at the last minute, and he just scraped my face, and took a good chunk of skin off my cheek. I gasped, and he growled. As I struggled, he raised the knife again, he yelled for help. Great. They already formed a group, the Careers. A girl came over; I think she was from the same district as him. She grabbed my hands and pinned them down.

"Go ahead." She said, and then grinned. He brought the knife high again, but before he could bring it down, something crashed into his side. I think he was shocked, because he rolled right off of me, and the girl got up and went to help him. I took my chance and grabbed the bag, then took off. Right before I exited the clearing, I heard Cato yell,

"Sorry, but THIS is my first kill." Then I heard a scream.

I continued to run, but then I realized that I should climb a tree and look out for water. I was never good at climbing, but these trees' branches were close to the ground, so I started up one. When I reached the top, I found that I wasn't far from the clearing at all. I must have gone in circles! No! I tried to look away, but I couldn't.

All I could do was watch as people died. I didn't even know them! I saw a big girl with at least twenty knives kill four people, two with the same knife. I saw Cato break a girl's neck, then stab a boy in the back as he tried to run away. I saw Cato's friend, the girl who had held down my hands, trip and then stone a girl to death. Then she used the same stone and threw it at another girl, knock her unconscious, then leave her for Cato, who slit her neck. Then, I saw something awful. I saw Peeta grab a small girl form District 6 and slam her into a tree and stab her. Peeta. The boy who I saw a girl with hair as red as fire and a face like a fox watch from the sidelines, swooping in like a vulture and swiping equipment from the dead contestants. But the worst that I saw was at the very end, when everyone left. I saw the little girl, Rue, come in and start to pick at what the Careers left. Only a flashlight, a backpack, and a blanket. She bent over to pick up the blanket, but all of a sudden, Cato burst through the trees and came at her like a bear. She screamed, but was no match for Cato. He plowed into her, knocking her to the ground.

"Clove!"-so that was her name!-"Get over here! I got another one!" He smirked down at the little girl, enjoying her struggle as she tried to avoid death. Clove came running out of the trees too, and gave Cato a long, sharp sword.

"Don't panic, little girl. It won't hurt. But then again, how'd I know? I've never been stabbed." He laughed. "Anything you want to say to you family back home?" he asked, liking the way her eyes widened in fear. "No? Okay then-" And that's when she spit in his eye.

"What the! What was THAT! You little BRAT, you spit in my eye!" The dark-haired girl smiled a grim smile of defeat with a little victory, but Cato was already raising the sword. Just when he was about to bring it down, The girl's eyes widened in fear as she looked at something over his shoulder, but when he turned around he saw nothing. He did feel something, though. He felt her jab her fingernail into the area where you do not want to be jabbed. As Cato yelled, the girl wriggled out from under him, and, as Clove raced after her, she climbed a tree, up to where even Katniss wouldn't dare go, and looked down, smiled, then disappeared into the vegetation. I saw a rustle a little further on, then another further on after that. She was jumping from tree to tree! Woah! You didn't see that every day! I cracked into a grin. For such a small and timid girl, she was tough. I looked up at the 'sky'.

It was dusk. I'd always liked that word, dusk. It was so, so calming. Then I had an idea. I took my sleeping bag and laid it over some branches. Then I took my hair ribbon and tied myself to the tree. I snuggled down in, and, even though the temperature was freezing, fell asleep.

I woke up two hours later to the BOOMs of the cannons, after, of course, the anthem. I counted the blasts, one…two…three…seven…eight…twelve…thirteen…fourteen. Fourteen deaths. Two must have died when I wasn't watching. Wow. That must be a record. I bet the contestants this year are even stupider than last year. Usually it's only ten or eleven. I watched the faces in the sky, and saw that the boy from District one died, the boy and girl in four and the boy in five, as did the girls from Districts six and seven, the boy in seven died also. The both from eight, both from nine and ten and the boy from eleven… I think he was the tough one, at least he was gone, although I was surprised, he looked too tough to die...and then it ended. The anthem played again, and then the sky went dark. And then I fell asleep for good.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

When I woke up the next morning, my back hurt like crazy. I stretched to work out the mussels and felt my back crack. Ohhh… that felt good! Stretching some more, I rolled up the sleeping bag and tied it up. I thought I should go up a little higher, so I went up really high and tied the bag to the tree. I wanted to stay here, in this tree, and observe the Careers. Maybe I would have a chance if I waited until everyone was killed, they attacked the last person. Yeah, that's what I'd do. I took my fingernail and scratched the names of everyone into the soft bark of the tree, and when I was done I underlined the names of everyone who was dead. I stared at the names after I was done.

District One - Boy Girl

District Two - Boy Girl

District Three - Boy Girl

District Four - Boy Girl

District Five - Boy Girl

District Six - Boy Girl

District Seven - Boy Girl

District Eight - Boy Girl

District Nine - Boy Girl

District Ten - Boy Girl

District Eleven - Boy Girl

District Twelve - Boy Girl

I hated not knowing their names. No, actually, I liked it. I don't want to think about their families at home, weeping about their loved one's death. I don't want to think about when that happens to me, and when it's Mamma and Kat- when it's Mamma's turn to cry. To weep at my death, at her loss. I looked down at my hair ribbon. Or, what was left of it. It had torn, ripped in two hanging together by only a few threads. Thank goodness that I hadn't rolled over in my sleep, or I would have fallen… at least forty feet. Enough to kill me. That wouldn't be that bad of a way to die, I thought. Better than being murdered. Or, more specifically, being murdered by Cato. I shuddered. The way he snapped that poor girl's neck… like it was a toothpick… I shuddered, again. I need to stop that. The tree could be wobbling. I looked about me, not aware that the sun was rising and that I was getting really hot in my sleeping bag until I was sweating. I climbed out, and dared go higher.

I only stopped when I heard a snapping and felt myself drop a little lower. I didn't expect this, but there was a cool breeze when I stuck my head cautiously out of the leaves. With a start, I saw Cato packing up his sleeping bag and ordering a boy of about fourteen around. The boy was digging holes and then dropping something into them, then carefully filling the holes again. The girl from yesterday, Clove, was piling food in the center of the holes, then did a careful hopscotch as she jumped back to the spot next to Cato. Cato grinned at her, and tossed a water canister onto the top of the pile of food that they were storing… in the center of the field. I didn't even see one tree within a fifty foot radius of the pile. That was odd. Cato strode over to the boy, and grabbed his shoulder. Spinning him around, Cato stooped over so that he was eye level with the boy. He pulled the boy closer, and whispered something into his ear. The boy's eyes grew wide, and he turned and started to run. But Cato was upon him in a second. Pulling a knife from his belt, he held it high over his head, and then started to bring it down. And then the boy was Katniss.

"No!" I screamed, trying to get down to the ground, but my backpack was tangled and I couldn't get to Katniss and she was going to die again and I couldn't do anything but watch and scream, "No, no, no, no!" And then the knife went smoothly into her chest… and it was the boy. I looked around me. I was on the ground, almost into the clearing. I was that close to giving myself away. I looked up again, and saw that the boy was on the ground, and the hovercraft was coming toward him. Cato and Clove were nowhere in sight. I bet they left to let the hovercraft take away the body. I took a cautious step backward, and ran right into Cato.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

"Hey, sweetie, I missed you. Where've you been?" He asked, grabbing hold of my shoulders and shoving me backwards. I fell to the ground, and felt a pair of legs behind me.

"Hey, it's that girl from yesterday!" said Clove, circling around me and crouching down. "You're not getting away this time." She smiled, and I crawled backward, still facing them. I needed to get away. And, of course, I crawled into another set of legs.

"What girl?" a voice asked, most likely a girl's. She, too, circled around and faced me, looking down at me. Clove stood up.

"A little shrimp gave Cato some trouble yesterday…embarrassed him. Can you imagine letting a little eleven year old away on the first day! The embarrassment!" Twelve, actually. I'm twelve.

"By the way, little shrimp, this is Glimmer," She continued, pointing to the other girl.

"Sweet, sweet revenge," muttered Cato, grabbing his knife and coming toward me.

"Wait, what if we kill two or birds with one stone," asked Glimmer, shrugging her shoulders.

"And just how would we do that?" asked Clove, staring at her, then at me.

"Well, what if we used her as bait? We could tie her to a tree, start a fire, and lure people to her. Kill them off one at a time? Then, after we kill three or four, we kill her," She said, starting to grin.

"Hmmm…" Cato thought this over.

"It's a great idea!" said Clove, beaming at Glimmer. "I'll get the rope."

And so my death was sentenced.

Cato put his knife away and grabbed me again and hauled me toward the pile. Clove once again did her weird hopscotch toward the pile, and grabbed a long coil of rope. Hopping back, she handed to rope to Cato. The last thing I saw was Glimmer raising the big stick over my head and bringing it down.

I woke up tied to a tree with a fire about three feet next to me. They must have put a lot of sappy branches in it, because it was smoky. Very smoky. My eyes were burning, and I couldn't even reach up and wipe them. I looked around the best I could with watery eyes, but since I couldn't see much all I saw was some bushes and a few medical herbs. Now I had to squint to keep my eyes damage. I stared to cough, and I thought, _This is what's going to kill me. Not Cato, but smoke._ I closed my eyes, and tried to twist my head into my shoulder so I could get some semi-clean air. That's when I heard the footsteps. I was surprised that I could hear them, the fire was crackling pretty loudly, but I heard them. Twisting my head and opening my eyes partly, I saw a girl of about sixteen, walking carefully around, looking at me the whole time. She held a rock. Oh, no. All of a sudden, the bushes exploded. Glimmer ran out of the bushes, bow and arrow in hand. Taking aim, while running toward the girl, she let the arrow fly. It pierced Katniss in the neck.

"No!" I screamed. "NO!" I struggled against my restraints, for Katniss was still breathing ragged breaths. I could use the herbs around me, heal her, she would live. Of course she would live, she was Katniss. Glimmer looked over at me, I was still screaming, and smiled. Taking a knife out of her pack of arrows, she walked over to Katniss. And I knew that Katniss was going to die.

"NO!" I screamed, again and again, but it was no use. Glimmer raised the knife, and Katniss's eyes followed it. Than the knife went into her stomach, and Katniss died. No, the girl died. Not Katniss. I saw Katniss again! No! I couldn't keep seeing her! It would be the death of me! I stared at the girl on the ground. She was tall, with blonde hair and lifeless, brown eyes. Glimmer stood up and walked back into the bushes. Cato came out and rolled the body out of the clearing. A moment later, I heard the hovercraft. I had helped kill a person. Unwillingly, though it didn't matter. I had helped a kill. I was officially a murderer. That was a very depressing thought. If my eyes weren't already watery from the smoke, I would cry. I slumped against the tree. What could I do to stop this? I heard Cato chuckling. I heard Glimmer laughing. And I knew that Clove was smiling in content. They would get more. I knew it. Two or three more. Four, even. And I couldn't let that happen. But, how could I stop them?


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

Two more people came. One came at night. I know because the Gamemakers dropped the temperature. I know because it was too steep of a drop for regular conditions. One came about an hour after the girl. Both times, it was a boy. Both times, they were killed by Glimmer. Both times, Cato dragged their lifeless bodies out of the space I was in. Both times, I saw Katniss. I tried to tell myself that it wasn't really Katniss, but it didn't work. Both times, I screamed and strained against my restraints, to no avail.

I woke up to another set of footsteps in the dried leaves. The fire had died down. I tried not to show my waking up, but since I jerked awake, I couldn't hide it. The footsteps retreated. There was something strange about them… they were spaced too far apart. Like… like… like somebody was tapping a stick every few steps…while not touching the ground.

"Come on!" Cato stage-whispered, making sure I could hear him. They left, and I heard the footsteps fall away. Then I felt a hand close over my mouth. I tried to scream, but there was something in the hand that was gagging me. A figure twisted and dropped in front of me, and once again I tried to scream but was gagged. The figure was small… it was that girl, from the first day, the one who had spit in Cato's eye! She held a finger to her lips, and I nodded. She took away the gag, and with a sharp rock started to saw at the rope. It wasn't going to work in time. She pointed to some herbs, they were for burns. You watered them down, and then applied them to the burn. I realized what she was going to do, and nodded. She knelt down next to the fire and grabbed a burning branch. Holding it to the rope, she reached out and grabbed some heavy leaves to beat out the fire. The rope caught, but it spread too quickly. It burned my bare arms, and scorched holes through my suit. I tried not to scream, but I did. The pain! I couldn't stop screaming. The girl glared at me, and, still beating at the fire, shoved more of the gagging herb into my mouth. The rope burned away, and she stopped beating at the fire. Then Glimmer burst through the bushes and shouted in surprise.

"Up!" the girl yelled, and she jumped into the tree and was soon hopping away. I tried to get up as fast as her, but I was too slow. Glimmer grabbed my ankle and was pulling me downward.

"No! Please!" I screamed. And as I was about to touch the ground, Glimmer was struck from behind with a rock and killed. The girl stood there, looking grim, glaring at me, and once again said, "Up. Now." Pushing me upward, she glanced around. The cannon went off. I climbed as fast as I could. The girl jumped to another tree, grabbing hold of one branch and swinging herself on to it, and then climbing to the trunk of the tree. I stared at her. She expected me to do that? I backed up, and stood, wobbling a little. Running to the almost-tip of the branch, I launched myself into the air, and grabbed on to another branch! Wow! That wasn't too hard… And that's how we traveled for a while. Jumping from tree to tree. We jumped together until we stopped hearing Cato's yells, Clove's screams. We jumped until dusk turned to noon. Only then did we stop. I sat down on a branch, exhausted. Rubbing the big bruise from when I fell mid-jump, I looked over at the girl. We hadn't said a word this whole time.

"Thanks." I said.

"Mmm-hmm." She replied, tucking her hands into a pair of socks. Ouch. That had to hurt; both our hands were rubbed raw from swinging onto branches.

"I'm Primrose. But most people call me Prim." I said, looking over at her.

"I'm Rue."

"District Twelve. Coal."

"District Eleven. Agriculture."

"So…"

"Who's waiting for you at home?" Rue asked, meeting my gaze.

"My mom."

"Who's Katniss?" she asked,

"What?" I asked. I had looked down at the ground to see if there were any eatable herbs, but now my head snapped up.

"I was hiding in the tree for a while. You were yelling, 'Katniss! No! No! You can't die!' over and over any time someone was killed." Rue stated.

"She is…was… my sister." I whispered, looking down again.

"Oh." Rue could tell that she'd struck a soft spot. "I'm sorry."

"Why? It's not your fault she was killed." Crap. I shouldn't have said that!

"My dad was killed." She said softly. "It was during District Eleven's Dark Days. He… he worked in the fields with me. We both would sneak out some apples or oranges for my brothers or sisters. Everyone was starving. That's why we stole. Anyways, one day, I did the whistle I do to signal the end of the day. We joined up at the end of the cherry section and started toward the exit. I passed through easily, as I always did. I turned around, and he was being stopped at the gate. They checked his pockets, and found the apples. They shot him on the spot." She said. Tears were streaming down her face, yet she made no noise.

"I saw my sister get shot." I said. She looked at me out of the corner of her eye.

"Oh." This was turning out to be a very depressing conversation.

"So… do you do much with plants?" I asked, glancing at the burns across my arms and stomach.

"Yeah, I sometimes had to treat burns and cuts with my little brother. He's only eight. He'd get too close to the fire, or he would slice his finger with the pocket knife that my dad had given him. I would go to my mom, she was bed-ridden for a while after my dads was killed, and ask her what to do. She'd always point to a little book she had, and I would open it and find the right herb. Most of them were for eating, but with some of them, she had written some medical purposes next to them. I finally took the book and read through it. I reread it, and rereread it until I had it memorized." She said. "And that book is my token." She took out a little booklet, brown leather and about fifty pages. The spine was cracked, and pages were dog eared. She opened it, and started to leaf through it.

"Why? I mean, if you already had it memorized, why bring it?" I asked. "Why not your mother's necklace, or your brother's lock of hair?"

"Because this book saved my brother's life, and my sister's arm. It was also passed down four generations of my family.I almost brought my lucky necklace, but…" She trailed off. "What's your token?"

"I left mine at the Training Center." I stated, then laughed.

"What?" she asked, and started to giggle.

"It just, well, the one year when Katniss and I were watching the Games, we say a boy from District One. He was huge, bigger than anyone I had ever seen. And he brought a token… a stuffed bear. Can you imagine? Anyway, he died because of that bear." I stopped laughing.

"How?" she asked, quiet now too.

"Well, he dropped the bear in a chase. He stopped to get it, and then the other tribute caught up to him. Stabbed him." I said.

"Ironic, huh?" she said.

"Yeah."

"I'm starving." She said, licking her lips.

"Let's go gather some plants."

We leapt down from the tree, and started to scavenge. An hour or two later, we had a sizeable pile at our feet.

"Let's get this up into the tree." Rue said, dusting off her hands.

"How?"

"Well, I stopped at this tree for a reason. Look." She pointed up at the branches, and I could just barely make out a hole in the tree.

"We'll store the berries and plants in there." She said.

"But, how will we get them up there?" I asked, looking up again.

"Like this." Picking up a branch, she bent over the top so that it touched the middle. Taking off her over shirt, she tied it over the circle in the branch, so it formed a crude net. She set it down and started stacking berries in it. When it was half full, she climbed up easily to the hole and dumped them into the hole. Climbing back down, she pointed to another branch on the ground. I copied her net, and put filled it halfway. And that's how we spent our afternoon. That night, when we were settled into my sleeping bag (she didn't have one), we heard the cannons. Four deaths. I looked through the branches to see who it was. The girl from District Three… the boy from three… and the boy from six, and Glimmer. I carved another list into the tree, again, underlining the new deaths.

District One - Boy Girl

District Two - Boy Girl

District Three - Boy Girl

District Four - Boy Girl

District Five - Boy Girl

District Six - Boy Girl

District Seven - Boy Girl

District Eight - Boy Girl

District Nine - Boy Girl

District Ten - Boy Girl

District Eleven - Boy Girl

District Twelve - Boy Girl

And only after the anthem played and the sky went dark, after hours of listening of Rue breathing evenly beside me, did I fall asleep.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

When we woke up the next morning, we crawled down to the berry hole in the tree. Taking out a handful of berries each, we ate. It was only after the food did I realize that I was thirsty. Really thirsty. But I don't remember any lake…

"Hey, Rue, have you seen any water?" I asked, licking my lips.

"Here," She said, handing me a plastic bag full of water. "I got it near the Cornucopia. Spare it… the Careers are camped out next to it." She said. I took a sip, then a bigger one, then a gulp, not realizing that I had almost emptied the bag of water.

"Hey!" Rue grabbed the bag from me. "Too much!" she looked at the bag, and sighed. " Okay, no big deal. Now, we just have to sneak past the Careers and fi-" she was interrupted by the blast of the cannon.

"I wonder who that was... Anyways; we just have to sneak past the Careers, who hate us, and get some water, all while not running out of this," she examined the bag, "drop of water we have left." She smiled grimly. "Piece of cake."

"I…I'm sorry." I mumbled. "I was just so thirsty…"

"It's fine." She said. "Let's just start out before it gets too hot to continue." She started to walk.

"Wait, what about the berries and sleeping bags?" I asked.

"Oh. Yeah. I forgot." She said sheepishly. "I'll climb up, and you stand below the tree. I'll stuff everything into the sleeping bag, roll it up, and toss it down to you." She started to climb up the tree.

"Okay." I watched as she squirreled up the tree, and grabbed the sleeping bag and stuff everything into it. She shimmied down the tree ten feet or so and stuffed all of the berries in it, then tossed the bag down to me. I caught it and set it down as Rue jumped off the last branch to the ground. I took off my over shirt and tore off the sleeves, and then tied them all the way around the bag so that I could carry it on my bag.

"Ooff!" Wow, it was heavy…

"Okay, let's go." Rue said, and started off. I followed. We walked, on the ground. It was horrible. I had to carry that heavy pack… it was at least a hundred degrees, and when we had walked at least three miles, I couldn't breath.

"Hey…hey Rue. Can…can you take this…now?" I huffed.

"Oh! Yeah, sorry. I didn't realize that it would be so heavy. Okay, here…" she yanked the bag onto her back, letting out a small, "oomf!" as she did it.

"Heavy." She said, and I nodded. Rolling my shoulders, (they cracked several times,) I breathed a sigh of relief. Scratching at mosquitoes, we started walking again.

After about an hour, I was eaten alive. I scratched like a madman, to no avail Argg! It was driving me insane! Rue looked over at me. She was sweating buckets.

"Maybe we should, you know, eat." She painted. "It'll lighten this thing." I nodded, and she dropped the pack, and started to crack her shoulders. "I didn't know berries could be so heavy!" she complained, and started to eat. I noticed the bug bites on her, too. I winced. I think that big one's a beetle bite. Sitting down, I reached into the bag and pulled out a handful of berries.

"This isn't going to lighten the bag much," I said, looking at the hundreds of berries left in the sleeping bag.

"I know. But at least we get food and lighten the bag a few ounces." She gave me a dry smile. We ate in silence for a few minutes. And then Rue looked up and stifled a gasp.

"What? What is it?" I asked looking up. That's when I saw the nest. "What's wrong?" She pointed to the nest.

"So? I've seen tons of those nests."

"I know. So have I. But we've seen them during the day. The bird that lives in the nest is called the Duskcatcher," _That's original_ I thought, "It only comes out a dusk. Which is…"She looked at the sky, "In about an hour or two. Anyways, it's a failed Capitol experiment for the war. They were supposed to attack when no one could see them, and they were a deep, deep blue. They attack using their wings, they were poisoned, their wings beat up to a hundred beats every five seconds_._ So, they would fly over to you and beat their wings in your eyes. People would close their eyes, but it would also go onto your skin. The poison in their wings would fly off into your eye, traveling and coating it. The poison would then spread into the brain, causing paralyzes, but only in the mussels, which you would be in for a couple of days, depending on your size. If the poison was on your skin, it would just sink in, and cause paralyzes on whichever limb the poison landed. While you were paralyzed, the poison could mess up your senses. Making you go blind or deaf." Geez. "But the big word there is could." She said.

"So, do they track you? Like the trackerjacks?" I asked, remembering the nest outside of the gate around the Salem. Katniss had made me stay inside for three days until the Peacemakers finally cut it down.

"No, they go by smell. To evade them, you dive underwater and they get confused. Sometimes they fly into the water to follow you, and then they drown."

"How do you know this?" I asked.

"There were nests in the orchards." She said, looking up at the nest.

"Why were they failed?" I asked, following her gaze.

"One of them had a disease, and it caused it to molt its feathers. The feathers, by the way, had a special type of gloss on them to keep the poison off their skin. So, this one bird had the disease that caused him to molt. Before he died by the poison, he infected other birds. And then, they almost all died. Of course, they mated with the other birds in the woods. The poison factor eventually went away, but they kept their speed. Even without the poison, those birds really hurt you if they beat your head with their wings." She winced. "But, because this is the Hunger Games, I expect them to have the poison in them still. We should get going." She stood up and hoisted the bag into her back. We started off.

After about another hour, Rue suggested that we climb a tree. Up we went, and set out our camp. It was only after I fell asleep did I hear Rue scream, and wake up to the beating of five or ten Duskcatchers' wings.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

I screamed and beat at the birds around me, at least until I remembered their poisoned wings. But it was too hard not to beat at those things while they were attacking you, so I continued to beat them after the thought that they were already poisoning me. My eyes were stinging like crazy. Rue had dropped out of the tree and was screaming for water as a mass of the birds circled her head. Thrashing some more, I tried to reach out and break off a branch to use as a weapon, but I missed and fell down, hitting my arms and legs and tummy as I fell. I landed on the ground with an "Oomf!" and looked up just in time to see Rue turn around a tree. I stood up and followed her blindly, now that the birds had caught up to me. I thrashed around trying to evade them, but it didn't shake them.

I caught up to Rue, by miracle of miracles, and we ran, side by side when the trees allowed it, and her in front of me when they didn't. We ran for what seemed like hours, but couldn't have been for more than ten minutes, before we finally stumbled across a lake. I dove right in, only to discover that it was only a few feet deep. Good. I couldn't swim. I wonder why I dived in…. I tried to swim under, and so did Rue, but because neither of us could swim, it was nothing but splashes and waves. I grabbed a root at the bottom of the stream, and held on, while trying to pull my feet down. I held on for a few seconds before I remembered Rue, and I reached out blindly and grabbed her. She was still at the top. I pulled her down with me, and we stayed under until I thought my lungs would burst. We broke the surface and gulped in air, thankful the birds were gone.

Then the paralyzes set in. I fell forward in the water, unable to move anything except my eyes. I couldn't breathe; my face was under the water. I wanted to thrash, but I couldn't. I floated down stream, I saw Rue beside me out of the corner of my eye. She was face up. Then I heard the anthem. _Now? _I thought, trying to see the sky. I couldn't. I needed to breathe! I couldn't breathe! My lungs were bursting, I couldn't flip over, and Rue couldn't flip me over. Air! Air! I saw a log coming up. Maybe it could flip me over… But no, we floated past it. My lungs were probably shriveling up inside of me…. And then I felt peaceful. You know, as ways to die, drowning wasn't too bad. I felt cool, and I wanted to laugh. Why was I so panicked? I hadn't killed anyone, I could go to Heaven and see Katniss. It would be great. I felt myself go faster, and I wanted to shout "Weee! Faster, faster!" Then I realized I was face up, and breathing. I was suddenly aware of the pain in my chest, and I gulped in air for a while. I looked out of the corner of my eye and saw Rue. Looking to where I felt like I was going fast, I saw a waterfall. It must have flipped me over when we went over it….

I tried to move my arms and legs, but it didn't work. Nor did my did my mouth. I grunted. Rue grunted back. She let loose what sounded like a strangled giggle. I grunted. She did that noise again. I made the strangle giggle noise. We went like that for a while, giggling and grunting and floating. We did that until morning, when the paralyzes wore off.

We had floated into a lake last night, where we were stuck in the middle of it, not moving. I tried to swim to shore, but then I saw the Cornucopia, and the Careers, (again). So we swam to best we could to the other side of the lake, got out, and climbed a tree.

"Well, neither of us had our eyes or ears damaged, so that's good." Rue said, settling down into a fork in the tree.

"Yeah," I said, "So, who died?" She looked uncomfterable.

"What do you mean?" she asked, picking bark off the tree and throwing it to the ground.

"Last night, I couldn't see who died that day." I said, looking closely at her. "Who was it?"

"Peeta." She said softly, looking at the ground.

"Oh." I said. Peeta? No, Peeta couldn't be dead… he couldn't!

"I'm sorry."

"it's not your fault. And, besides, it gives us a better chance of winning." I said. I mentally looked at the list in my head.

District One – Boy Girl

District Two - Boy Girl

District Three – Boy Girl

District Four – Boy Girl

District Five – Boy Girl

District Six – Boy Girl

District Seven – Boy Girl

District Eight – Boy Girl

District Nine – Boy Girl

District Ten – Boy Girl

District Eleven – Boy Girl

District Twelve – Boy Girl

Five left! I couldn't believe it! Only five!

"Rue! There are only five of us left!" I exclaimed, looking at her.

"Really? Who?" she asked, jumping slightly.

"You, me, the girl from District Five, Cato and Clove." I said, counting them backwards in my head. Rue grinned, and then frowned. She looked really sad.

"What?" I asked, getting worried.

"Maybe, maybe, we should split." she said, looking away.

"What? Why?" then I realized. "Oh." We would have to kill each other soon. Really soon, if we stayed together.

"Okay." I said, and then hugged her. "Good luck." I said into her ear.

"You too." She squeezed one last time, then stood up and jumped into the tree next to ours. I watched the leaves shake as she went from tree to tree, until I couldn't see them shake anymore. I wanted to cry. She was gone, and I would probably never see her again. Good-bye, Rue. And good luck.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

After Rue left, I tried to jump from tree to tree like her, but I was too depressed and tired and wet. I climbed down from the tree and started to walk. I needed some food, we had left the bag full of food at the tree, and by now I think someone would have taken it. So I choose a direction at random, and walked.

I walked and walked and walked, further than Rue and I had walked. I scratched at my bug bites, I rubbed my bruises, and I winced at my burns. I thought about home, about my cat and goat, I thought about Mamma, about Katniss and Papa. I thought about all of my friends at school, and I thought of Peeta and his death. How did he die? Poison? I had seen some poison berries…. Was it Cato's sword that felled him? Was it falling? Drowning? What was it?

I walked until the next morning; I didn't even hear the anthem go on last night. But I do know that nobody died… I haven't heard a cannon blast in a while. I counted the days that I've been in the arena, and I've counted roughly three weeks.

On the third day of walking, I ran into a person. It was the girl from District Five, the one who looked like a fox. I couldn't remember her name…. She froze, in the middle of stuffing some food in her mouth. She had that deer in headlights look.

"Um, hi." I said, backing away slowly. She took out a knife and started to come toward me. Oh, boy.

"So, um, what's your name?" I asked, backing away, stumbling over some roots. I didn't expect her to answer, so I was surprised when she did.

"Mary."

"Pr-pretty name." she was getting close. I looked over my shoulder, and saw a bush. She lunged. I took a stumble/step to the side, and she fell. I looked at her eyes as she stood up. They had a glint of insanity in them. She came toward me again, and I picked up a nearby stick to defend myself. This time, when she lunged, I swung the stick. I swung with my eyes closed, so my aim was off. I was aiming for her hand, I swear, but I missed. Instead if hearing a hand break, I heard her skull break. She dropped to the ground, and her cannon went off.

No. No, no, no! NO! I couldn't kill! I'm not a killer! No! I'll never see Katniss now! I looked down at Mary in horror. Her skull bone was shattered, blood gushing out. No. I ran.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

I ran and ran and ran and ran and ran, all day long. I didn't feel anything, except for the pain of Mary's death. I was a murderer. I killed. Sure, I had helped kill the three people while I was tied to the tree, but I had finally convinced myself that didn't count. But this one did. And I couldn't stand it. I kept running. I ran through a shallow stream. I ran past the tree where Rue and I were attacked by the Duskcatchers. I ran past the place where I was tied to the tree. I finally collapsed into a pile of pine needles, where I stayed until the anthem. I looked up to see Mary's face one more time. I calculated the list in my head from habit.

District One Boy Girl

District Two Boy Girl

District Three Boy Girl

District Four Boy Girl

District Five Boy Girl

District Six Boy Girl

District Seven Boy Girl

District Eight Boy Girl

District Nine Boy Girl

District Ten Boy Girl

District Eleven Boy Girl

District Twelve Boy Girl

Four more left. That's it! For a second I realized that I could win this thing. And then I remembered my kill. I remembered my kill until I fell asleep.

The next day when I woke up, I felt better. I had a dream last night. I dreamed that I was talking to Mary, and she was telling me that she had three brothers. I felt awful then, but all of a sudden she turned into Katniss and she said five words that changed my mind.

"It was you, or her." And then she faded away, and I woke up feeling great. I woke up thinking; I have a chance to win this thing. And, even though it sounded horrible, I hoped that Cato had killed Rue. I don't want to kill her. I started to walk, my steps springing. I was happier than I have been in a long time. I started to hum, a little tune Mamma had told me. She heard it from her great-grandma, who had heard it from her grandma. It was from before the war. It was catchy. It went like,

_Over in the meadow_

_In the sand, in the sun_

_Lived an old mother turtle,_

_And her little turtle one!_

"_Blink," said the mother,_

"_I blink!" said the one,_

_And so he blinked_

_And he winked_

_In the sand, in the sun_

I liked that tune. It counted up to ten, and that was how I learned to count to ten. I had forgotten all about it until just now. I walked until noon, planning out my survival tactic. If Cato killed Rue, then I could hid in trees with stones until Cato walked by. (I'm assuming he is going to kill Clove.) Then, I will throw stones at him until he dies. It sounded pretty reasonable. I kept going over the list in my head, giddy that I, Primrose Everdeen, was in the last four. I, Primrose Everdeen, age 12, height four foot three, weight, seventy pounds, could win the Hunger Games. Look out, District Twelve, you have a new winner. That's when I remembered sponsors. I hadn't gotten any gifts. I slumped my shoulders a little. Nothing at all. Well, I was pretty well off, considering it has been three weeks…. I wasn't going to let this be a damp cloth!

Around noon, I spotted a bush filled with berries. I was starving, but the berries looked poisonous, and I wasn't going to risk dying now. I was too close.

By now, my clothes had dried off, so I climbed up into the trees to swing from branch to branch. After a couple hours of this, I walked, because my hands were my hands were rubbed raw. After walking a day, I grew weak. No water, no food, no rest. So I decided to conquer one of those factors. I climbed a tree, nestled into a fork in the tree, and fell asleep.

When I woke up, the anthem was halfway done. There were no deaths. There goes my Rue theory. Oh, well. There is still time. I jumped down from the tree, and continued to walk. Around midnight, I realized I had no idea where I was going. Oh, boy. It was at one when I stepped into the field just outside the Career's camp. Oh, no! I took a careful step back, and was relieved when I got out of the clearing without making any noise. I walked backward until I was about a hundred feet away from the edge of the clearing, and only then did I turn around. And run straight into Cato.

"Hey, shrimp." He said, grabbing both my wrists in one of his huge hands. "Only four left." He said. I screamed.

"That is, including me." He pointed the knife he had in his other hand at him.

"Hey! Cato! You said you'd call me when you find her!" Clove stepped in behind Cato.

"Sorry, babe. I needed to teach her math." He said, and then looked at me.

"So, what did we review? Oh, yes. There are only four of us left." He said. "Oh, wait. Make that three." And then he stuck his knife into my chest, killing me instantly.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

District One Boy Girl

District Two Boy Girl

District Three Boy Girl

District Four Boy Girl

District Five Boy Girl

District Six Boy Girl

District Seven Boy Girl

District Eight Boy Girl

District Nine Boy Girl

District Ten Boy Girl

District Eleven Boy Girl

District Twelve Boy Girl


End file.
